The scheme involving Wilcox was one of several kickback operations run by more than a dozen small-company stock promoters, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday. The SEC charged Wilcox and the others in lawsuits filed in Miami federal court.

The 63-year-old Wilcox is perhaps best known for playing Officer Jonathan “Jon” Baker on the 1970s TV series “CHiPs.”

The SEC says the promoters were caught in an FBI undercover sting operation offering to pay kickbacks to pension-fund managers or stockbrokers for using their clients’ funds to buy penny stocks.